![](https://www.astronomy.com/uploads/2024/07/eileen-collins-flight-deck-scaled.jpg)
Eileen Collins burst through the glass ceiling aboard the space shuttle
Eileen Collins, mission commander, looks over a checklist on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1999. Credit: NASA. Twenty-five years ago, Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a spaceflight. A test pilot, mathematician and trailblazer, this soft- …